These symptoms on your feet actually indicate that your blood sugar has been above the normal level for a long time? Doing these two things can reverse it!

Well-known

Diabetes is becoming more and more common

Dietary and lifestyle changes

More and more people are facing this health threat

Data published by The Lancet showed that in 2021, there were 529 million people with diabetes worldwide, and it is estimated that by 2050, there will be 1.31 billion people with diabetes worldwide.

Blood sugar is an important indicator for diabetic patients

Nature needs more attention

In fact, when blood sugar exceeds the standard for a long time

There will be some signals on the feet

It is normal for your feet to feel numb occasionally. "It may be caused by sitting or squatting for a long time. It's not a big deal."

But people with diabetes must not think like this. Long-term high blood sugar levels can cause diabetic foot and may also cause foot numbness!

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In addition, the lower limbs may experience a burning sensation, a cold sensation, or a feeling of ants crawling, or even no feeling at all to external stimuli.

If similar situations occur, diabetics must be careful of long-term high blood sugar levels leading to peripheral neuropathy, which is an early lesion of diabetic foot. There are usually the following symptoms:

Foot pain when walking

It usually manifests as tingling and burning pain in the feet when walking. It will feel better after resting for a while, but the pain will start again as soon as you continue walking, and you cannot walk for a long time.

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This may be a painful neuropathy caused by long-term high blood sugar, which will worsen at night and is clinically known as intermittent claudication.

Lower limb skin changes

The skin of the feet may become itchy, dry, waxy, have poor elasticity, lose hair, be pale, and have pigmentation, which can easily lead to fungal infection.

Foot ulcers

Diabetic patients whose blood sugar is poorly controlled for a long time often have poor blood circulation in the lower limbs, which leads to slower healing of skin damage or trauma , and wounds are prone to infection and ulcers.

Therefore, diabetics should never underestimate skin wounds and infections. Once this happens, please go to the hospital outpatient clinic for a face-to-face consultation and ask a professional doctor to evaluate the blood circulation and healing of the wounds to rule out whether the ulcers on the skin wounds are merely manifestations of vascular neuropathy.

Joint deformation

People with long-term high blood sugar may suffer from acromalnutrition, muscle atrophy, and loss of normal muscle traction tension balance .

Lack of muscle support and traction may cause deformation of the bone joints of the foot, resulting in foot deformities such as arched feet, hammer toes, and chicken claw toes.

For diabetics, controlling blood sugar is a very important part of preventing diabetic foot. If you do not control and improve your health status in time, you will be at risk of developing diabetes.

So the question is, when faced with a roller coaster-like blood sugar level, what should we do to bring it down?

Strict diet

Blood sugar is closely related to our daily dietary intake, so the intake needs to be strictly controlled.

It is recommended that the total raw weight of staple food for each meal should not exceed 100g; oily foods should be limited, and the daily intake of edible oil should not exceed 25g.

At the same time, appropriately increase the intake of protein and fruits and vegetables. It is recommended to eat some low- glycemic index, low-fat, crude fiber foods, such as:

Foods that raise blood sugar slowly, such as strawberries, pears, apples, milk, yogurt, and soy products;

Foods with high fiber content such as barley, carrots, oats, and green vegetables;

Appropriate intake of high-protein foods with low fat content, such as beef, chicken, and fish.

Try to maintain a certain amount of exercise

Of course, not all people with high blood sugar or diabetes are suitable for exercise. It depends on how high your blood sugar index is:

If the patient's blood sugar level is significantly elevated and exceeds 16.7mmol/L , exercise should be temporarily suspended.

If the patient's blood sugar is less than 16.7mmol/L , he should strengthen physical exercise. He can adopt aerobic exercises such as brisk walking and jogging, and try to exercise for no less than 30 minutes a day.

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If these methods of controlling blood sugar are no longer effective, you must seek medical attention in a timely manner and receive targeted treatment under the guidance of a doctor.

Blood sugar is an important indicator of our health. High blood sugar is closely related to many diseases. Don’t ignore it. You must control it. Don’t ruin your health just because of a momentary craving.

Statement: This article is a medical-related educational popular science article. It does not involve specific treatment methods or medical behaviors and cannot replace hospital visits.

Experts who reviewed this article

References

[1] Clinical Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Type 2 Diabetes in the Elderly in China (2022 Edition)[J]. Chinese Journal of Diabetes, 2022, 30(01): 2-51.

[2] Zhuang Qianling, Guo Guifang, Li Xiangping. Progress in clinical research on prediabetes[J]. Chinese Journal of Nursing, 2011, 46(08):832-834.

[3] Yang Jie. Correlation between abnormal glucose metabolism and short-term and long-term prognosis of patients with cardiovascular disease[D]. Peking Union Medical College, 2023. DOI: 10.27648/d.cnki.gzxhu.2023.000011.

Content Production

Editor: Zhang Fuyao

Map: Eastern Zhou Dynasty